Displaced ↠ BTVS [1]

eighteen; stand by you

"So I bear my skin and I count my sins and I close my eyes and I take it in. And I'm bleeding out, I'm bleeding out for you. For you." - Imagine Dragons, "Bleeding Out"

A/N: Warning for mentions of abuse and some swearing. And seriously, this chapter will break your heart and warm it at the same time, so brace yourselves. Some fun facts: This chapter took me over a week to write, and is my longest chapter at at 4,382 words. That's almost 5,000 words!

Paige's POV

I made an executive decision to come back to the Maclay household.

Executive meaning I didn't say anything to Giles.

I figured the worst that could happen is that I would get yelled at later.

Which I did. But a lot more happened at the Maclay's then I thought would.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Anyway; I went back to the Maclays' for two reasons: one, I needed to finish the interview, since I didn't exactly get a clear answer on that last question; and two, to bond with Tara a little bit more, just as I had been doing with the others. I also went back to get my mind off of my encounter with Anya.

I had waited until around 3:00, so it would look like I had just gotten out of school. (I had made the mistake of going out in the middle of the day, when children are supposed to be in school, a couple times; and had had to do a lot of explaining to people.)

I knocked on the door, just as had a few days earlier, and waited. Again.

While crossing my fingers, hoping that her relatives weren't home; the door creaked open.

It revealed Tara. And this time, her appearance didn't frighten me as much. I still wasn't used to it, but...

I smiled, sincerely, and gave a little wave.

Why did I always wave?

"Hi."

"Hi." Her eyes were filled with confusion, probably wondering what the heck this kid was doing on her porch again.

"W-what are you d-doing here? I-I mean, I-it's not that I don't w-want you h-here, I just-"

"No, I get it, I get it."

"I'm here to finish the interview, remember?"

I saw Tara's eyes light up.

Was it possible that she actually enjoyed my company?

"O-oh. Okay." There was a hint of excitement in her voice.

So I went into her house again, less frightened then before.

We sat down, in the same places we had just a few days before.

"I only have one question: What is your life like?

The glimmer that was in Tara's eyes faded again, just as it had when I asked this question before.

She was silent, so I decided to help.

"You live here with your Dad, cousin, and brother. I've got that part. Now, what are their names?"